Scottish Health Survey 2020

Scottish Health Survey 2020

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) 2020 telephone survey was undertaken by ScotCen Social Research.

Due to the testing of a new methodology for SHeS within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey results that inform these indicators are presented as experimental statistics.This means that the survey reported upon was in a testing phase and that users should be aware of the mode differences and potential impact on results.

In interpreting these results, please note that the usual format of the SHeS was different in several key respects:

• The usual format of the SHeS, interviewers  undertake height and weight measurements. As this was not possible in the telephone survey, respondents were asked to provide these measurements themselves. Other studies have shown that self-reported measurements tend to overestimate height and underestimate weight on average. To help address this, adjustment factors based on a comparison study undertaken for the Health Survey for England were used to adjust the self-reported measurements. However, for women, levels of overweight including obesity tend to be higher in deprived areas where response to this survey was lower than usual (the pattern for men is less clear), hence the results may underestimate true prevalence.
• As questions on food insecurity are potentially sensitive in nature, in the usual format of a Scottish Health Survey interview in the home, they are included in a self-completion form which the respondents complete themselves rather than the interviewer asking the questions. Self-completion formats may illicit a more accurate response from some participants who feel more comfortable answering sensitive questions privately. For this reason and as levels of food insecurity are generally higher in deprived areas where response to this survey was lower than usual, the results below may underestimate true prevalence.
• In interpreting these results, note that information on physical activity was collected using the Short-Form International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). This questionnaire defines activity levels based on reported moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA) but uses a less detailed set of questions than those included in the face-to-face SHeS surveys and hence it is not comparable with the face-to-face survey approach. A further consideration is that, as physical activity levels tend to be lower in deprived areas where response to this survey was lower than usual, the results below may overestimate true prevalence.
• In interpreting these results, note that, in this survey the mental wellbeing questions were asked as part of the main interview. Questions on mental health are potentially sensitive in nature, and in the usual format of a Scottish Health Survey interview in the home they are included in a self-completion form which the participants complete themselves rather than the interviewer asking the questions. Self-completion formats may illicit a more accurate response from some participants who feel more comfortable answering sensitive questions privately. For this reason and as indicators of poor mental health tend to be higher in deprived areas where response to this survey was lower than usual, the following indicator may overestimate mental wellbeing. 

 A full account of this can be found in the SHeS report, which can be read here.

For the purposes of the National Performance Framework, we are reporting the results here as indicative only. An assessment of performance is not being made, and we are not making comparisons with previous years as we feel it would not be appropriate to do so for the reasons outlined above.